Lisa Nakamura

Gnocchi Bar

Seattle

Lisa Nakamura hails from Hilo, Hawaii. She received her BS in Botany from Arizona State University, worked as a flight attendant for Delta Airlines for almost 9 years and then got her first cooking job from Lisa Dupar. She received two scholarships (one from Les Dames d’Escoffier Seattle Chapter) to attend culinary school and graduated top of her class from L’Academie de Cuisine in 1995 in Maryland. then worked for Gerard Pangaud from 1995 to 1997 in Washington DC. Lisa moved to Napa, California to work for Thomas Keller, 1997-2000, started as a commis for Grant Achatz at The French Laundry, worked for Thomas Keller for three years, leaving in position of sous chef. Later on, she worked for David Kinch at Sent Sovi in Saratoga, California, then took her first chef position overseas in Munich in 2001. After working in Germany for three years (yes, she can butcher German really really well), she worked in Seoul, South Korea as a chef for a year, took a job as executive sous chef at a luxury hotel in New Orleans, only to have Katrina blow through on Day Five of her new job. After working at Pebble Beach for a year, she was opening chef at Qube, which brought her back to Seattle. She then worked at The Herbfarm, opened Allium in 2010, in Christina Orchid’s old restaurant spot on Orcas Island. Allium closed in 2013 and then Lisa opened Gnocchi Bar in March 2015 after a series of pop ups.

LOVES:

Cute furry animals

Kind people

Chocolate (the darker the better)

WHITE wine

Seattle